The growth in use of interactive whiteboards in UK schools over the past few years has been rapid, to say the least.

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1 INTRODUCTION The growth in use of interactive whiteboards in UK schools over the past few years has been rapid, to say the least. When used well, the interactive whiteboard (IWB) can transform and revitalise teaching and learning in any subject and at any level. The IWB can help to engage and motivate students, focus their learning and provide an invaluable central resource base in the classroom and all at the touch of a pen or a finger. Many secondary music departments now have, or expect soon to have, an IWB in their teaching area. However, the publication of subject-specific music activities has so far been minimal in comparison to most other curriculum areas. Whilst the various software packages accompanying IWBs normally allow teachers to create their own resources and activities, this can be time-consuming and require no small level of skill and experience for anything at all sophisticated in design. This product has therefore been produced to help meet this substantial need in secondary music departments. The scope of the activities The CD-ROM accompanying this Teacher Book contains six main types of activity. One of these has ten variants and the other five have five variants, thus providing 35 activities in all. Teachers already familiar with the Badger Key Stage 3 Music Starters (2004) will recognise that several of the activity types and their contents have been adapted for the IWB from that publication. As can be seen from the learning objectives for each activity type, these activities call upon students' ability to demonstrate skills in performing, music reading and listening, as well as recalling and applying musical knowledge and understanding. A glance at the charts and lists at the back of this book will quickly demonstrate the wide range of content in these activities. Each of the activities has built into it a degree of flexibility that allows different approaches in delivery, thus allowing teachers to adapt any activity to the teaching and learning environment in which it is to be used. Furthermore, there are varying degrees of progression built into both content and delivery options for all of the activities, making them suitable for use at any point in KS3 or indeed in KS4. The activities could be used at any point in a lesson, for example: as starters to engage and motivate students at the beginning of the lesson, or to review and consolidate work from the previous lesson; as 'breathing points' part-way through a longer lesson, in 'brain gym' style; as plenaries to review and consolidate learning from the current lesson; as assessment opportunities, through observing individuals and whole classes engaged in a range of challenges, e.g. in practical and listening skills and in knowledge and understanding.

2 Using the activities in the classroom These activities are designed to make use of the interactive possibilities of the IWB, and not just to replace the writing on the whiteboard with something colourful for students to look at while the teacher talks and points! In other words, students should be engaged either as individuals making decisions at the whiteboard itself, or by responding to the activity requirements from their seats as a whole class or in groups. In the latter case, either the teacher or a student can operate the activity screen on behalf of the class. Because the activity screens require clicks or drags of the pen/finger on the appropriate button or box, it is vital that your IWB is correctly set up and accurately oriented/calibrated beforehand. There is nothing more frustrating for teacher and students than trying to click on a button on the screen, only to find that the cursor appears several inches away from the tip of your pen or finger! It is also crucial with most of the activities to have space on either side of the IWB for you or one of your students (two students, in the case of Don't Panic!) to stand and operate the board without obscuring the screen for the rest of the class. Every activity is supported in this Teacher Book by detailed guidance and labelled screenshots. However, there can be no substitute for simply trying out the activities for yourself (even if only with the mouse on your computer at home) and practising a little with them, so that there are no awkward moments where you are not sure what to do next. Remember that where knowledge and understanding are a key element of the activity, not every word, term or concept will be known by every student in the class - indeed there may be areas that the class have not yet covered. However, the activities can be used as much for developing knowledge as for recalling it, and a degree of timely support from you can create some valuable learning opportunities. If you do need to check what vocabulary or concepts are contained in any activity, just consult the charts and lists at the back of the book. Technical information There are 35 activities in all. Five of them are PowerPoint files, which require that users already have Microsoft s PowerPoint program (available for Windows and Mac). The remaining 30 activities are stand-alone program files, requiring no additional software. All 30 are versioned for both Windows and Mac computers on the CD-ROM. Users need to have a web browser in order to access the CD-ROM menu, but it is not necessary to have an internet connection. Further information is given in the help files on the CD-ROM. The five variants of Flash Card Rhythms are in "PowerPoint Show" (.pps) format on the CD-ROM. These files should be opened directly from the folder in which they are located (on the CD-ROM or elsewhere on your computer). They should NOT be opened through the 'Open File' menu within PowerPoint itself, otherwise the PowerPoint Show format will be lost. If this happens, the pointer will not remain visible throughout the activity and it will not always be easy to make it reappear. The only way to get around this would be to right-click on the screen once the activity is running, go to 'Pointer Options', then 'Arrow Options' and click on 'Visible'. This would need to be done every time an activity is opened and run from within the PowerPoint programme itself.

3 SOUND AND PICTURE RESOURCES

4 CONTENTS Activity type Variants Drag & Drop 1. Keyboard instruments (page 6) 2. Woodwind instruments 3. String instruments 4. Brass instruments 5. Percussion instruments 6. Dynamics 7. Pitch 8. Rhythm & style 9. Texture 10. Tempo Mix & Match 1. Symphony orchestra (page 8) 2. String quartet 3. Orchestral effects 4. Various styles 5. World music Predict-ability 1. Level 1 (page 10) 2. Level 2 3. Level 3 4. Level 4 5. Level 5 Don't Panic! 1. Musical elements (page 12) 2. Musical instruments 3. Musical genres 4. Classic rock & pop hits 5. Numbers in music Blob Grid 1. 4 x 4 (simple metre, basic) (page 14) 2. 4 x 4 (simple metre, extended) 3. 5 x 5 (simple metre) 4. 4 x 4 (compound metre) 5. 4 x 4 (graphic symbols) Flash Card Rhythms 1. 4/4 time (page 16) 2. 3/4 time 3. 5/4 time 4. 6/8 time 5. Graphic symbols Answers and Notes (page 18) Appendices 1 & 2 (page 32) CD FAQs

5 MUSIC ACTIVITIES FOR IAW Drag and Drop LEARNING OBJECTIVES Comparing and contrasting musical sounds and phrases; identifying instrumental timbres; developing knowledge and understanding of key terms relating to musical elements. DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY AND VARIANTS Students must match the sounds in 4 musical excerpts with their corresponding pictures or descriptions. There are 10 variants, each covering a different category: 1. Keyboard instruments (pipe organ, synthesiser, piano, harpsichord) 2. Woodwind instruments (saxophone, recorder, bass clarinet, bassoon) 3. String instruments (cello, acoustic guitar, viola, bass guitar) 4. Brass instruments (tuba, bugle, french horn, trombone) 5. Percussion instruments (tambourine, djembe, hi-hat cymbal, timpani) 6. Dynamics (crescendo, ff / p, diminuendo, pp / mf / ff) 7. Pitch (melodic phrases: 2 staff notation, 2 graphic notation) 8. Rhythm & style (waltz, reggae, swing, march) 9. Texture (melody with chordal accompaniment, round, solo, duet) 10. Tempo (presto, accelerando, ritenuto, adagio) The musical excerpts are drawn from a wide range of musical styles and genres, and are sufficiently differentiated within each category to avoid ambiguity when matching with the pictures or descriptions. The pictures in variants 1-5 often show the instruments being played, but do not always reveal the whole instrument. This provides an extra element of fun and challenge to the activity. Keeping the sound separate from its picture and name supports the objective of identifying instruments by timbre, and focuses on listening skill rather than visual memory. WAYS OF USING THE ACTIVITY Drag and Drop can be used to develop and consolidate students listening skills and understanding of key concepts in an entertaining yet quite intensive manner. The whole activity could be led by the teacher at the whiteboard, guided by students responses, or individual students could be invited to activate the sounds and/or drag and drop the boxes. In the latter case, the student could be asked to respond on his/her own or on the advice of others in the class (e.g. pairs, groups, teams, whole class). The musical excerpts can be played in any order, as often as required, partially or completely. Thus the activity becomes far more immediate and interactive than the usual listening exercise. Since each category is a separate activity, the focus(es) can be selected by the teacher as appropriate to the lesson and the overall activity can be made as short or as long as necessary. 6

6 MUSIC ACTIVITIES FOR IAW Drag and Drop Draggable box Sound button Options bar THE ACTIVITY SCREENS Drop zone Picture and name, or description Introductory screens: These give operational guidance: On the next screen there are four musical excerpts. Each excerpt is a short recording of a different (brass, etc) instrument. Drag the excerpt alongside the matching instrument. Main screens: As the main screen appears, the four draggable boxes with the sound buttons will fly in from the left. Clicking a sound button once will start the excerpt; clicking it again or clicking a different sound button will both stop the current excerpt playing. Each draggable box must be dragged onto the correct drop zone. Draggable boxes cannot be dragged by their sound buttons. Options bar: The delay judgement option allows you to determine whether the placement of each drag and drop will be judged immediately or delayed until all four have been made. Leaving the box checked prevents students from achieving purely by trial and error. Unchecking the box means that each answer will be tested in turn, allowing another student or team to try an alternative answer. Note that boxes dragged into an incorrect target area will be automatically rejected when the judgement is made. Unchecking the full screen option will allow you to access other windows on the whiteboard, or even to run several different categories of Drag and Drop at the same time. The sound FX option allows you to turn off the sound effects that normally accompany correct and incorrect judgements. The exit button closes the activity completely. 7